Abstract

A reversible elastic instability was observed in PZN-0.06PT high coupling single crystals when subjected to uniaxial compressions similar to those used in sound projectors. The strain magnitude at the onset of the instability supported a free energy prediction of a ferroelectric rhombohedral -ferroelectric orthorhombic phase transition. The thermal response of the normalized phase transition strain is in a good agreement with model calculation. A dc bias field drastically enhanced the crystal stability under compression. dc bias and compressive stress levels that are required for their stable operation in sound projectors have been deduced and will be presented.

Received 16 April 2009Accepted 12 July 2009Published online 19 August 2009

Acknowledgments:

We gratefully acknowledge the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for financial support of this work. C.O. wishes to thank Engineers and Scientists Exchange Program (ESEP) between Japan Ministry of Defense and Department of Defense (DoD) for every support. We also thank Professor L. C. Lim of Microfine Materials Technologies Pte, Ltd., Singapore for supplying the crystals used in this work.